Todmorden (/ˈtɒdmərdən/ TOD-mər-dən; locally /ˈtɒdmɔːrdən, ˈtɒdmərdən, ˈtɔːmdɪn/)[1][2] is a market town and civil parish[3] in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England.

[5] Although fanciful and historically implausible, alternative etymologies circulate, such as the speculation that the name derives from two words for death: German Tod and French mort,[7] or that the name meant "marshy den of the fox", supposedly from tod, a word of uncertain origin meaning 'fox' first attested around 1200,[8] moor (which in Old English meant 'marsh'), and den (also attested in Old English to mean an animal's lair).

Russell contended that Blackheath Barrow was primarily a religious site, specifically intended for the "performance of funeral rites", as there was no evidence that it had been settled for domestic use.

During the years 1800–1845 great changes took place in the communications and transport of the town which were to have a crucial effect on promoting industrial growth.

Miles Weatherhill, a 23-year-old weaver from the town, was forbidden from seeing his housemaid sweetheart, Sarah Bell, by the Reverend Anthony John Plow.

Armed with four pistols and an axe, Weatherhill took revenge first on the vicar and then on Jane Smith, another maid who had informed Plow of the secret meetings.

By the end of that year, the fleet had expanded to five double-deck vehicles: two by Critchley-Norris, two by Lancashire Steam (predecessor of Leyland Motors) and one by Ryknield.

Until 1938, the town was served by no fewer than six railway stations: Todmorden, Stansfield Hall, Cornholme, Portsmouth, Walsden and Eastwood.

In December 1984, a goods train carrying petrol derailed in the Summit Tunnel between Todmorden and Littleborough causing what is still considered as one of the biggest underground fires in transport history.

A post-mortem established that he died of a heart attack earlier that day, and discovered burns on his neck, shoulders and back of his head.

[20] Among the explanations to gain currency was that Adamski was the victim of extraterrestrial abduction, following comments by police officer Alan Godfrey about what he saw on 29 November 1980, described in Jenny Randles' 1983 book The Pennine UFO Mystery.

[34] The project has been responsible for the planting of 40 public fruit and vegetable gardens throughout the town, with each plot inviting passers-by to help themselves to the open source produce.

[34] The project has attracted publicity, media attention and visitors and the idea has been replicated in at least fifteen towns and villages in the UK.

At the same time, Todmorden Rural District Council, comprising the nearby parishes of Blackshaw, Erringden, Heptonstall and Wadsworth, came into being.

Two years later, on 2 June 1896, the town was granted a Charter of Incorporation and the area covered by the Urban District Council became a municipal borough.

The territory of the civil parish of Todmorden also extends to cover Eastwood, Walsden, Cornholme, Mankinholes, Lumbutts, Robinwood, Lydgate, Portsmouth, Shade, Stansfield, Dobroyd, Ferney Lee, Gauxholme and Cross Stone.

The building straddles the Walsden Water, a tributary of the River Calder, and was situated in both Lancashire and Yorkshire until the administrative county boundary was moved on 1 January 1888.

One interesting external feature of the town hall is the pediment to the front elevation, which reflects the fact that it straddled the boundary as it depicts the main industries of the two counties.

The left-hand sculpture represents Lancashire (cotton spinning and weaving industries), and the right-hand one Yorkshire (wool manufacturing, engineering and agriculture).

Other notable buildings include Dobroyd Castle (completed in 1869), now used as a residential activity centre for schoolchildren; the Edwardian Hippodrome Theatre, and the Grade I listed Todmorden Unitarian Church (built 1865–1869).

Pre-Victorian buildings include two 18th century pubs; Todmorden Old Hall, a Grade II* listed manor house (Elizabethan) in the centre of town, and St. Mary's Church which dates from 1476.

Centre Vale Park in Todmorden is the setting for several pieces of local art, including tree carvings by the sculptor John Adamson,[52] and an iconic bandstand.

[55] Also in the park are the reconstructed remains of Centre Vale Mansion, next to Todmorden War Memorial in the Garden of Remembrance, and nearby there is a sculpture of a dog.

Todmorden has been used as a location for the 1980s BBC TV police drama Juliet Bravo, Territorial Army series All Quiet on the Preston Front, parts of The League of Gentlemen, BBC TV miniseries Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, the BBC1 series Life on Mars, a town in the book Spooks Blood and a film adaptation of the novel My Summer of Love.

The BBC One crime drama series Happy Valley, written by Sally Wainwright (who grew up in nearby Sowerby Bridge[58]), is filmed in and around the town, amongst other locations.

[59] Members of a guerrilla gardening group spoke about reclaiming unused land for growing vegetables, how this helps the local community and how it can be a driver for change.

[63] The BIT Travel Guides were some of the first guidebooks to cover the overland Hippie trail from Europe to Asia and Australia[64] Crowther went on to be a prolific author for Lonely Planet (1977–1995) and played a key role in the early days of the company.

[65][66] In 2016, the British Library in their 2016 exhibition 'Maps & the 20th Century' showcased Crowther's hand drawn travel maps[67] and his research journals for the first edition of South America on a Shoestring.

Tim Benjamin (born 1975), the composer, lives in Todmorden, and the world premiere of his opera Emily was given at the town's Hippodrome Theatre in 2013.

Harold Shipman, the general practitioner (GP) who is believed to have killed over 200 patients in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, claimed at least one of his victims while working as a doctor at the Abraham Ormerod Medical Centre between March 1974 and September 1975.